Phonics Poems and Poetry Journals

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Something I have always done and LOVED to do is poetry journals. I'm sure it's nothing new to you. I know TONS of people do them. I'm not very creative in coming up with this idea, lol! But I wanted to show you how I use them.

I've posted before on how I like to use poetry journals... but that was about a year ago, and not only have I moved to a different grade, I've also changed a little in how I do things. Check out those posts {HERE} and {HERE}. In first grade, I still do a lot of the same things, but I've revamped it so it's more appropriate.

I don't use anything fancy. I just use a spiral or composition book. I just printed up labels that had a picture on it that I could reference it for a while until the kids got to know the word.

So, here's how I do it.

First, each month we take time out of our day to color our month cover page. I set the timer for 10 minutes for the cover and 5 minutes for the Table of Contents. Then we glue them in.

I use spirals or composition books for our poetry journals, but you can just use a 3-prong folder or a small 1-inch binder! If you use a spiral or composition notebook, I have a little trick for you when you print off the pages... shrink them so they fit! When you go to print them, select custom scale and print them at 85%. That's the size that will fit notebooks. Otherwise, you can just print and go if you are just using a folder or binder!

I really don't have a creative bone in my body, when it comes to writing poetry...so that's when I search high and low!

I actually have a weekly/daily schedule I like to keep with each week for the poems. I only do this with my phonics poems though. We do all kinds of other poems throughout time too, but I only do this schedule with the phonics poems.

Monday, I'll read the poem from the chart paper. If the poem I choose has missing letters in it (like this one did), then we'll discuss what those letters are. Then, I'll have them read with me.

Tuesday, we'll read it again off the chart paper, and highlight skill words.

This day, I'll give them their own copy and they can highlight the words on their own poem.

I like to retype them so that they can put them in their poetry journals.

Wednesday, we'll read it from the chart paper again, this time finding any of the sight words from our week (or previous sight words) and they underline them (on my poem). Then we discuss the phonics skill words some more. They go back to their seats and write out the highlighted skill words. Then they partner read it.

On Thursday, we come back to the poem on the chart paper and reread. This time, we focus on punctuation...knowing how to read and when to stop. We also figure out what the word family is. This week we worked with -in and -it (well, this week in the pictures), so we came up with more words that would go with those word families.

AND, sometimes, if we have time, on Thursday, we will do a poem scramble where they have to work with their group to unscramble the poem. This hits so many levels... sight word recognition, fluency, phonics, team work! They don't even know it! I make it a little game to see which group can finish first. They HAVE to bring their own poems to use as a reference, so that they get used to going back into the "story" to find the answer.

I copy 4-5 different sets, all on different color paper and laminate them, that way they last year to year and I don't have to copy them every year!

Then, the next week, this usually goes into a center as a review.

Then, on Fridays, we read it one last time... I usually have them pick a "Read It" card where we can read it in fun and silly ways. Then we head back to our seats and I have them illustrate on the side-by-side page what the poem is talking about. My rule is that they have to label at least 2 words in their picture. Can they label more? PLEASE! But I want at least two highlighted words from their poem in labeled in the picture.

Here are some examples of finished products from our journals so far.

Now, I said that I like to use other kinds of poems too...so if they are just fun poems, like thematic ones, we usually just read them a few times and illustrate them (I always have them illustrate them AND label a few words! - helps with visualizing). I don't spend a whole lot of time on them. Sometimes, we don't even have time to color our illustration.

When September came, we were putting in our poem and the kids reminded me that I hadn't given them their September cover yet. HA! Woops on me. Oh well, we just pretended that the poem for that day was in August. lol

I decided that this was one of those things that I would keep forgetting to copy them off, so when I did copy them, I went ahead and did the whole year. So now I don't have to remember to print them! I just have to remember where I put them - and that might be even harder! haha!

If you want the covers and table of contents, click on the picture below for the freebie!

I also typed up my poem schedule and put it in a PDF if you want that. Click the picture below!

Hope this gives you some good ideas on what to do for poetry and phonics!

Love your ideas here with the poetry journals, and how you have outlined what you do each day to reinforce another skill! As I have several poetry resources, too, I am wondering if you have a template that you use for your "typed" versions of the poems? Thank-you, also, for the printing tip re: 85%. Do you have your students "number" their pages each time they put in a new poem?